The Forgotten Tie
by JinxedJaguar
Summary: No one remembers, No one remembers how I was the first member of Team Crafted, or how I was the only reason why everyone met. They didn't know how much it hurt when they kicked me out. I guess I was just a tool. I moved all over the country, years of pain and grief, just to get thrown away. I was the star of TC, and I will be the end of it. This is my story.
1. Deadlox in Arizona

The first day of third grade. Really, the first day of school is nerve wrecking just in general. But at a new school? Even scarier. Especially when you've always been the outcast. Sure, you can always try to start over, but there's always that feeling there won't be a chance for change. But I can't change. I'm the outcast because of what I am - a sorcerer. I've tried so hard to hide the magic, but it just... escapes. But I guess you can't say what will happen before you try.

"Jimmy? Are you ready for school?" my twin sister said. "Yeah." "Then why are you not downstairs?" she asked, walking into my room.

She was the same age as me, only I was 5 minutes older (boo yah!). She was the same height as me (short), had long black hair with bangs across the right side of her face, skinny jeans, huge hipster glasses, red converse with blue wings, a red hoodie, a beanie, and neon green headphones with silver at the center on her neck. It was so strange how I was so different. I stood in front of her with a purple hoodie, grey jeans, grey converse, light brown hair, no glasses, a cloth tied aroung my forehead, and my hood pulled up. The only similarities were that our eye color, the red creeper face on our sweatshirts (mine on the front and hers on the back), and the fact that we were both trained in magic.

"_Because_, Maya, I was waiting for the right time to do this," I said. I stuck my hand out and my hand developed a purple glow. Soon, her headphones had the same glow and they flew off her neck and into my hands. "Hey, give those back! You know how important those are to me!" she yelled. "I know! That's why I'm taking them!" I responded. I glanced at the headphones, now purple with black in the center, and not because of the magic surrounding it. Before I could get a chance to think about it, I realized that the purple was mixed with green, the same green that glowed around Maya's hand.

"Are you trying to fight against me?" I teased. "What else does it look like?" she teased back. The headphones were floating between us and it was about to go down Harry Potter style - Avada Kadavra versus Expelliarmus. They were almost back in my hand, but Maya's arm flashed up and she flicked her hand, sending me with my arm against the wall. 'So she's one this time... I'll get her back soon enough,' I thought. She smiled and put her headphones back on her neck. "Time for school!"

We walked to the bus, me being a sore loser and just playfully glaring at her. 'If I don't get friends, I'll have my my sister, right? Oh God, that's just sad...' The bus came, and I's have to say, it was quite interesting.

We were the first at the stop, so we both sat toward the back. As more people got on, they started to sit near us. After a while, the people closest to us were a boy with long hair covering his left eye sitting quietly and a group of gossip girls. The girls were trying to talk to Maya about some store called Arrow Poster or something, but she just ignored them by putting on her headphones.

I tapped her shoulder. "Why don't we try to start making friends right now?" I asked. "Because that boy over there seems mute," she said pointing to the long-haired boy, "and those girls are VERY annoying." "Well, it's not my fault that you don't like girly stuff. But you make a good point. They are the only people around us..." I agreed.

"Did you just call me mute?" the long-haired boy suddenly said. We both turned to him. She blushed and I felt my cheeks get warm. "Uh, no," I lied, adding in a bit of sarcasm on accident. "Well, I'm not mute. Anyway, I haven't seen you before. Are you new to Tuscan, Arizona? I'm Ty, by the way," he said. "Uh,yeah. We moved a few weeks ago. I'm Seto."

Maya raised an eyebrow. "Remember? Dad enrolled us under our fake names," I mouthed. "I'm his sister, Jinx," she finally said. "...Interesting names. What grade are you two?" he asked. "Third," we both answered. "Me too!"

* * *

"Hey Ty! We each got a gift for you!" Maya said, running to the door that I had opened. "Really? Me too!" He said. We all exchanged gifts. Ty had two and we had one each. I opened mine first. I found a beanie inside the neatly wrapped box. "I know it's more of Jinx's thing, but..." Ty started. "No! This is one of my favorite colors!" I said. It was dark grey, almost black. Maya opened hers next. She got a green five-subject notebook and some pens. "How'd you know I ran out of notebooks?" she asked. "...I didn't," Ty answered, blushing. Then Ty opened his two. The first one he opened was Maya's - two dark purple wristbands. Then he opened mine - a small picture of us that for some reason looked like we were made of squares. It was nothing really, but I took the most time ever to draw and color and thought that he would like it. "I love them, thanks guys," Ty said, pulling us in a group hug. "No problem," Maya and I said at the same time.

* * *

Ty, Maya, and I were walking to school. "So guys, are you excited for 5th grade?" Ty asked. A smile grew on my face. "Yeah. And can you believe that we've all been best friends for 2 years now?" I answered. Maya grew a smile just as big as mine and hung her arms around both of our shoulders. "Yeah, I know. You two are my best dorky nerds," she said. Ty raised his eyebrow. "Wow. Says the geek-ster," he teased. She just jokingly glared at him.

"Anyway, are the both of you ready for the advanced classes, though? I mean, we're already doing 6th grade math and 7th grade reading," I interrupted. They both sighed. "This year'll be rough."

* * *

"Why do you guys have to move?! It's the middle of the year!" Ty complained. "You know we have no choice. But it's not like we'll never see each other again, right?" I said.

I didn't want to move either, but our dad needed to 'relocate' for whatever job he had. He couldn't leave two 10 year old magic trainees behind.

"But... we still have things to discover about each other! Fine you have to leave, but I won't take it lightly. Also, can you at least answer a few questions I never asked before?" Ty said. Maya and I glanced at each other. "Fine," we both said. "Why do you always wear those sweatshirts? And why does Jinx always wear those headphones?"

We couldn't answer those questions. The answers involved him knowing that we were sorcerers and he didn't know. But maybe we had to tell him, so when we meet him again in the future, he'll know.

"We're leaving in five minutes!" my dad called. Guess not. He would've called us freaks, just like everyone else has.

"The headphones were our mom's. But I'm sorry we didn't tell you sooner; we just thought that we could avoid seeing you like this. Now, we really gotta get ready," Maya said. Ty's red eyes (he wasn't crying, his irises are just red) saddened.

"Bye." Maya and I hugged Ty for the last time in years and we ran upstairs to get our stuff. We heard footsteps, the door opening and closing.

* * *

I stared out the window. "Jimmy." Maya put her hand on my shoulder. I jerked my shoulder out of her grip. "We have his phone number. We'll still get to talk to him," she said, placing her hand on my shoulder again. "**Stop**." Suddenly, I felt a surge or power and Maya's hand glowed purple for a split second. She quickly pulled her hand back as if my shoulder bit her. "Sorry," I mumbled. She just smiled sadly and turned away.


	2. Sky and Seattle

"We're here guys," Dad said. "We don't want to be here though," I complained. "Jimmy, you know that I have to do this to work and get money. Besides, I can't just have a sorcerer and a sorceress with someone who doesn't even know they know magic," Dad explained. "Well, who do we have to know magic anyway? If we didn't know magic, would you have let us stay, then?" Maya asked. "No, you two are still my children; I wouldn't leave you guys behind. As for having magic... you know that you guys are the first in centuries to be born with both sides having magical background. You two should be proud that you're the most powerful sorcerers." Maya just rolled her eyes and we followed Dad into the house.

* * *

The first day of fifth grade at _another_ school. Well, for us at least. I was running late again and Maya walked into my room. _New_ room, may I add.

"Hurry up Se- Jimmy," she said, sitting on my bed. I sat down next to her with my backpack at her feet. "What's wrong?" she asked. "Promise me that you won't get too close to anyone this year. I have a feeling we're not going to be in Seattle for very long," I said. "Promise," she said.

The bus ride wasn't the same as last year. No one talked to us or tried to like Ty did. But it's not like we went on unnoticed. I heard people whisper, "Who are they," and point to us. I also heard some insults about our 'stupid fashion choices', but it's not like we care.

Maya and I were in the same homeroom - something that rarely happened. Since teachers never think we never spend enough time with a variety of our classmates (which is completely true - stupid friend groupies) she made us all do work with partners. God, why can't we be alone in peace?

"I want you to read the paragraph and answer the questions. You can work with a partner - or alone if you don't want to but I'd rather you not. Oh, and no groups over two people," the teacher called out. I glanced at Maya who was across the room. I guess the teacher was smart enough to not put us next to each other. Another kid broke me out of my thoughts.

"Hi! Do you want to be my partner?" a boy said. The boy had black jeans, sneakers, a black t-shirt, and a pair of sunglasses a few sizes too big for his face. "Uh... sure," I said. I wanted to work with Maya so I had an excuse to talk to her, but she already started working alone. Besides, like I _wouldn't_ get in trouble if I said no.

"If you didn't notice, I sit at the same table group as you. You just always seem zoned out. My name is Adam," he said with a big smile on his face and in a loud voice. _Geez, this is his normal speaking voice? I'd hate to hear him scream..._ "I'm Seto. And yeah, I don't really listen to anything," I said. He started to read the worksheet, ignoring the last thing I said.

* * *

It was a month into school. I had kept my promise not to get too close to anyone, but Maya kinda broke that. I wasn't mad at her, I knew that she's eventually get over it being the type of person she is. I was just worried about how she will be when she's still in the process of getting over it. She started talking a lot, and I mean _a lot_ to some boys in our class. "Some boys" as in two guys named Jack and Robby.

But that kid who sat at my table, Adam, always was trying to start conversations with me. Not like he was bad or anything, it was that he was pretty much the polar opposite of me. He was loud and bold, while I was more quiet and shy. That and I knew how long it would take me to get over losing another close friend.

"We're starting an in class project I have everyone in groups of four and you are going to research and create a poster of a famous science experiment. There will be no homework for this, but there will be extra credit for extra research. Here are the groups," our teacher said. She started writing names on the board. Fortunately, Maya was in our group. _Un_fortunately, Robby and Adam were in our group as well. She wouldn't focus, and Adam would annoy the heck out of me. To be honest, we were pretty much the worst people to put in one group.

"Grass doesn't taste very good - it's just too earthy," Robby said. "I know, right? I've tried several times to see if I would like it, but I just can't," Maya replied in the same (I honestly have no idea how) serious tone. They both started laughing as I walked over to them, Adam walking next to me. "I'm going to pretend I didn't hear that. Anyway, what do you want to do the project on?" I asked. Adam's mouth curved into a smile. "BUDDER!"

"That's not a famous science experiment..."

* * *

Both of them gave us their phone numbers so we could research together (also Jack's number but not to research, because he felt left out ;P). I got to know that Adam wasn't as annoying as I thought he was and I maybe started to break my own promise. I started hanging out with him. The four of us were at Adam's (not really, but to us) mansion and Jack was on his way there. Just to hang out. But the thing is, we never know what to talk about.

"It just makes too much sense that you and Seto procrastinate and don't even try but get perfect grades. You guys are just lucky - wait... You were probably named Jinx for a reason... What was I saying? Oh Jack said that he'll be here any minute," Robby said all in one breath. I raised my eyebrow.

"Wow. You just said, like, forty-six words in one breath and every sentence was a different subject. And why didn't you tell us this sooner?" I said. His face turned into a look that said _Ples don't hurt meh_. I just rolled my eyes. After a second of silence, all of us started laughing. As is on cue, there was a knock on the door. Adam went to answer it, and the meeting was in session. Lol, wut?

Jack entered the room with snow in his hair. "You guys were right. Snow day. Here's the gol-" Jack started. Adam's face turned psychopathic. "BUDDER! You mean budder!" Jack rolled his eyes. "Whatever. But I brought the go- budder ingots I owe you guys," he finished, handing us each a gold ingot (Adam is the only person who calls it budder). Adam immediately started hugging it.

"Can I have yours?" Adam muttered, looking longingly at our ingots. Wow. He was _so _weird. The four of us looked at each other with a look saying _Wow, is this guy serious? _But because he was Adam and we only wanted the best for him (Pffft, we're not acting like weird parent-friends...), we gave his the gold.

We continued our normal conversation. But, like always, we all tried talking over each other. "Guys. Guys. SHUT UP AND LISTEN! Okay, have any of you played the Stanley Parable yet?" Jack shouted. We all shook our heads, saying no. "What?! Have one of you at least played DayZ?" We shook our heads again. He started freaking out. "What? WHAT?!" he screamed. He grabbed my shoulders and started frantically shaking me. After ten minutes of trying to squirm out of his grip, he was still shaking my shoulders. I was super angry for a flash of a second, and I felt the same feeling of magic course through my body. Jack was surrounded in a purple aura for a split second. "Ow! What the heck was that?!" he yelled.

My eyes widened. I went a year and a half without magic and it suddenly reappears to kill my friends. I wasn't even sure what I did: what spell, how it affected him...

Slowly, the color drained from his face and his breathing started to shallow. "W-what did you do, Seto?" he asked, fear clear in his voice. My guess was that the spell made his heart stop, but in a more gradual way. Maya spoke up.

"I-I'm no d-doctor, but I'm pretty sure that it's… uh, magic stopping your body from functioning," she stuttered. Robby gave a nervous laugh.

"But... magic isn't real. Right?" I gave a small awkward smile and sapped my fingers, creating a small ball of purple fire.

Jack and Robby looked scared out of their minds. Adam, on the other hand, just stood there frozen. "A-and it's just Seto, right? I mean... Jinx isn't a witch? She only knows about magic because of you?" Adam sputtered out. Maya didn't know what to say. I mouthed to her, 'Don't tell them - if I get made fun of at least you won't.' She shook her head.

"That's where you're wrong. Seto can't be the only special one, right?" she said, trying to keep a light tone. But this situation was anything but light.

"You-you're joking. You have to be joking!" Adam insisted. She didn't answer. If he believes that we're joking, we won't take the time to convince him that we're not.

We suddenly heard a thump. Jack was on the floor. Not unconscious, but dead. The spell must've finally stopped his heart. Guilt and grief filled my thoughts. _Oh God... I killed someone. AND THAT SOMEONE WAS MY FRIEND! _I thought. Adam started crying and Robby was just looking back and forth between me and Jack.

Suddenly rage covered his face. "SETO! What have you done?! You killed my best friend!" Robby yelled. He attempted to jump on me, but a semi-transparent wall green appeared between us and he just ran into it. "Wow, using magic as a defense. Cheap," Robby taunted, rage burning in his eyes. I never thought such a happy-go lucky guy could get so mad. But even though I had magic, I was terrified.

"Th-that wasn't me. My magical aura is purple, not green," I said. Confusion flashed onto his face.

"Then..." he started. He looked at Maya, whose hand was surrounded in green. "Really? You too? I actually thought you were joking," he huffed. She shrugged.

I heard Adam start to hyperventilate. "O-oh God. I'm in a room with a witch and wizard murdered. What do I do? This is my own house, I can't run away," he mumbled to himself. Robby get even madder (if that was even possible).

"Look what you've done to Adam now!" he shouted. He tried to use Tackle again, but aimed it at Maya instead of me. Looking at her expressions, I could tell it was instinct, but a similar semi-transparent wall formed around her. Robby realized there was a wall too late and ran into it. But instead of getting knocked out, he went right through. And Maya didn't get hurt. I know, it doesn't make sense at first, but once you understand that all his body parts fell apart, it makes sense.

There wasn't blood (one good thing about magic), but it was still disgusting/terrifying. His pants were on his disembodied legs, but his arms fell out of his t-shirt. His decapitated head had a frozen expression that showed fear and looked like it was braced for the worst.

Maya looked like she was on the brink of tears. First I get Jack, then she gets Robby. They were her friends - her closest friends. Adam was my closest friend from Seattle, but Jack and Robby's deaths really struck. I was already sobbing before Maya was.

She started crying. Before Adam could see though, she stood up, grabbed my arm, and she started dragging me out the door. "Oh God, I'm so sorry Jack and Robby. C'mon Jimmy, let's leave before this gets worse," she whispered, barely audible.

* * *

It had been a month since the incident. The town said that Robby was in a car accident and Jack had an unknown medical problem and that the two of them were brought to Adam's house. That's all a normal human could understand. But I was surprised that Adam hadn't at least _tried_ to tell the authorities that they were killed by sorcerers. Sure, they would think that he's insane, but _someone_ would've believed him, right? Some people will believe anything (*cough cough* Illuminati).

Speaking of Adam, we hadn't talked to him since Jobby (lol, awkward ship name... Sorry, not the time) died. And it's not just us, he's not attempting to talk to us either.

I got sick of wondering if Adam hated us, or just thought we were too weird, so I went up to him during recess.

"Hey, Adam," I said, poking his shoulder. He tensed.

"Hey, Seto. Is Jinx there too?" he responded, hesitantly turning around.

"Hi," Maya said, back to her quiet self.

Before I could say anything, he said, "I'm sorry guys. For ignoring you, for being scared of you. I swear it on my life, I haven't told anyone about it and I don't plan to."

Personally, I was very surprised about this. "Really?" I asked. He nodded. Maya just rolled her eyes.

"You two are too s-" she started. She began coughing, but it seemed worse than a normal cough. I just ignored it. "-serious. GROUP HUG!" she finished, wrapping her arms around the two of us.

* * *

"You're moving?! But you've been here for seven months! Please, can't you stay?" Adam pleaded. I sighed.

"Adam, our dad needs to move around the country for his current job to get money and we kinda need money to live," I explained, emotions hidden from my tone.

"But aren't you sad? You don't sound like it, but we won't get to chuck budder at each other anymore!" Adam said. After second's pause, he continued, "I also can tell by your tone that this has happened before. You came here in the middle of the year and I noticed your hesitance to talk to anyone, too."

It was Maya's turn to sigh. "Yeah. We had to move away from our best friend. I guess he didn't know what you know, but we hope he will someday. Maybe you'll meet each other. His name is Ty," she said.

"Ugh. I don't want you guys to leave. I guess this is good-bye then. Call me," Adam concluded.

"Bye."


	3. BajanCanadian and JeromeASF in New Jerse

Maya had her enchanted sunglasses on and, unfortunately, I didn't have any (I don't see why she needs them, though, she has glasses unlike me). We didn't know where we were being driven, but we knew we were facing east because of the blinding sun that was burning my retinas.

"Dad, where are we moving to new?" Maya asked.

"New Jersey. Are you disappointed or excited that it will be just about as cold as Seattle?" Dad responded.

"Well, as much as it'll remind me of what happened to Jack and Robby's corpses and Adam, I am-" I started.

I was cut off by Maya heavily coughing again. I didn't understand what was going on. After we moved to Seattle, she seemed to be sick. Before the incident, you couldn't really tell unless you looked for it. But it was getting clearer she was getting worse. _Was it… no. It couldn't… _I thought.

"Maya, are you alright?!" Dad said.

"Y-yeah, I'm f-fine," she muttered. He wasn't convinced. Dad pulled over at the next rest stop.

Dad got out of the car and opened the door on Maya's side. He kinda looked like a doctor the way he acted. He looked into both of her eyes, then her ears, but then he did something a doctor couldn't do. He cast a spell on her, creating an orange glow that looked like water flowing downward.

"What was that?" I asked. He climbed back into the driver's seat before he answered.

"Nothing seemed wrong, but the cough could possibly be the flu or something. It was a healing spell. If it's just a sickness, it'll kill the bad bacteria," Dad explained. _What if it's not necessarily a sickness?_

* * *

Sixth grade. New school. New kids. But not middle school. I didn't know why, but the school we were going to was an elementary school that went up to sixth grade. This was worse than if we went to a middle school. At a different school (junior high/middle school), not everybody knows everyone else. At an elementary school like now, everyone already has best friends. Well, not really, but it feels that way.

I was all packed and ready to go downstairs, but Maya wasn't. I walked into her room to find her also ready, but lying on her stomach with her face on her pillow. I wonder if that hurt her nose with her glasses…

"What's wrong?" I asked, seating myself at the foot of her bed. She groaned.

"I don't want to go to a new school! I miss Adam. I miss Jack and Robby," she said. The last part was quieter than the rest.

I was honestly a little surprised. I thought she was over it and forgot. Guess not. Anyway, I gave a sad smile.

"You know, for the past two moves, you've been the one to sit at the foot of the bed and give a pep talk. Now it's me, huh?" I said. She shrugged.

"I guess we should go," she said.

We walked to the bus stop and. Unlike the usual, there were two other people at the bus stop. One of them was wearing a red and black checkered hoodie, jeans, red converse, and had messy brown hair. The other one had an outfit that looked like a suit, black sneakers, light brown hair (that kind of looked reddish), and a large nose that was slightly hooked. I heard fragments of their conversation.

"Dood, you gotta stop obsessing over Star Wars… they're stinky, smelly, cheaters," I kinda heard the hoodie-one say. "Well, it's not weird… that's an anti," the other one said. I swear I heard a third voice, but that was just being crazy, so I ignored. They continued their conversation without taking note of us.

Eventually, the bus arrived. When I got on, there was not one but us and the people at the stop. _We're the first stop… not too shabby… _I thought. We all decided to sit towards the back, coincidentally.

"Hey, look. We have matching shoes!" hoodie-guy said to Maya. I could tell she was surprised –she flinched a little when he said it. But she quickly started acting lie herself (I personally think she can do that only because she got practice with Robby).

"Well, technically not really. Mine have wings," she said, pointing to her shoes. His face had a joking look of sadness.

"Aww, I'm not the cool one anymore..." he said. His friend laughed.

"You weren't in the first place, Biggums," his friend fired.

That's the most we talked to them on the bus. As more people got on, they started talking to the two. I didn't understand why, so I choose to a random guy who looked my age that was near us.

"Hey, uh, sorry if I interrupted, but… Why is everyone talking to them?" I asked a boy wearing a plaid t-shirt and had glasses similar to Maya's. I pointed at the two who we briefly talked to.

"Them? You don't know them?" he said. His voice seemed so… strangely familiar.

"No, my sister and I just moved here," I said, gesturing to Maya.

"Well, welcome! I'm Tyler. But anyway, that's my brother Mitch and his best friend Jerome," Tyler explained.

"Thanks –for answering _and_ for the welcoming," I concluded.

So. We were neighbors with popular kids.

* * *

"Hey, look! It's the newbies!"

"What a bunch of freaks!"

"Cause they _are_ freaks. If they never talk they have something to hide."

"Let's find out the girls first."

The group of bullies surrounded Maya and she couldn't run. One of them grabbed her left arm and started to pull her sleeve down. She looked terrified beyond belief. She tried to yank her arm out of his grip, but he wouldn't let go.

"Stop it!" a voice behind the group said. They all turned around and I had the chance to see who said it. I saw our trusty neighbors: Mitch, Jerome, and Tyler. The bullies suddenly looked ashamed and walked away. Maya leaned against the wall, which was a few steps behind, and buried her head into her hands.

_First they're popular; know they rule the school…_ They hadn't talked to us since the first day of school and they suddenly reappear to save us?

"You guys okay?" Jerome asked.

"Yeah, I don't think anyone got hurt," I answered.

"That probably won't happen again, now that they know that you're friends with us," Mitch said. Friends?

I glanced over at Maya. Tyler was in front of her and I heard him ask about why she freaked out so much. She whispered something I couldn't hear and I saw his face show a split-second of shock before it was masked. Being the clueless person I am, I didn't understand for years.

The small anger that I had pushed away came back. "You three live a few houses down from us, you talk to us once –on the first day of school, ignore us for a few months, then suddenly reappear to save our asses? You aren't even our friends!" I suddenly yelled.

Their faces turned sad. "We're not your friends? We wanted to talk to you but we could never find you two!" Jerome defended.

"Yeah, it's like you're _trying_ not to be seen!" Mitch added.

Maya suddenly cut in with coughing. It was so bad, I can't even describe it. All I can say is that she started coughing up blood.

"I'm fine," she said weakly. "But it's not like we _want_ to be ignored. You saw it, people make fun of us. And, trust me, we wanted to talk to you guys too, but you guys should know better than everyone that the whole school wants to talk to you. And when you think about it, you're only this concerned because you _need_ everyone to _love_ you," Maya continued.

Tyler sighed. He looked at his brother and brother's best friend. "You know she's right. I bet you don't even know their names," Tyler agreed. Yes, Tyler didn't really talk to us, but Maya and I have had at least small conversations with him.

"How am I supposed to know?! You're actually smart enough to be in their classes whereas we only see them at lunch!" Mitch said.

"The best we can do is come up with names! Why don't I start calling them Jimmy and Maya?" Jerome added.

Maya and I both knew that he was kidding, but I could tell we were both extremely freaked out. He had guessed our real names without having any idea that we had fake ones.

"Their names are Jinx and Seto, and if you don't mind –and I know you will–I'm inviting them over and you have to be there too," Tyler finalized.

* * *

After that, they became our friends.

We were at Mitch/Tyler's house, still getting to know each other. I didn't know why, but I felt like I could trust them. Sure, I had trusted Adam and Ty, but this feeling was stronger or something. Maybe it was the fact that Tyler and Mitch were twins.

"I wanna tell you guys something only Mitch knows," Tyler said. Mitch looked at him and nodded. "I… I have this… I dunno, magical power," Tyler started. Maya and I glanced at each other and I knew we were thinking the same thing: _Was he a sorcerer too?_ "I can turn invisible," he finished.

So that was the third voice I thought I had heard on the first day of school. I thought I was just going insane.

"Seto and I are sorcerers," Maya blurted out. I looked at her. Our dad said it was fine to tell people that information as long as we were comfortable with it, but this time we weren't. Or at least, _I_ wasn't.

"What? I-I thought magic was just a myth…" Mitch said.

"You have to be kidding. There's no such thing, Jimmy and Maya," Jerome added. Mitch and Jerome always said the exact same thing, just phrased differently. They're so weird.

Tyler rolled his eyes when he heard 'Jimmy and Maya.' And probably because he had a magic power and his brother didn't believe in it. Jerome would occasionally call us that when he was joking around. I still felt weirded out that he jokingly said our real names.

"Well, that's what our friends said right before Ma- Jinx accidentally killed our friend Robby," I said. At that point, I knew it was too late to convince them that we weren't sorcerers. Even if they didn't believe it, they would never drop the subject. And I stuck be my words when I said that I trusted them. Maybe this was a chance to see if they trusted us back.

Jerome narrowed his eyes. "I trust you on that… But why did you start saying something else before you said Jinx?" he asked.

Without hesitation, I said, "I don't know why, but this year we're really losing it. First, Jinx willing tells you that we're magical. Now, we have to tell you our real names."

"Wait, real names?" Mitch and Tyler said at the same time.

"Yeah, they're-"

Maya's groan of pain cut me off. Her arms were clutched around her stomach and soon enough, she was coughing as well. She quickly ran to the bathroom and came out five minutes later, pale and worried.

"Jinx, are you okay? You've been coughing pretty badly for the past couple of months," Tyler said.

"Yeah, like in the hallway after the bullies?" Jerome added.

"This is all my fault," I mumbled. "This is all my fault! Maya, remember when I got angry at you during to the car ride in Seattle? And how I lost control and you looked like my shoulder bit you? This must be what the spell did!" I remembered. _Oh God. I've killed my sister. Well, not yet, but still._

"So her name _is_ Maya! I was right! Power Moves Only!" Jerome said, trying to lighten the mood. Mitch and I looked at each other and cracked a smile. "Does PMs doooooe!" we said at the same time.

* * *

We were finally in middle school. Seventh grade FTW. But it was already Christmas.

"Ding dong," Maya said when we were in front Jerome's house.

"Is the Jimmy and Maya?" Jerome's voice asked through the door.

"Who else in the school knows you as well as us?" I answered. He let us in.

Inside his house was Tyler running around like a three year old on a sugar high screaming, "CHRISTMAS! CHRISTMAS! SANTA IS OMINGN TO FUCKING BREAK INTO OUR HOUSES!" while Mitch was trying to calm him down. Yes, he swore. But we were those cool kids who swore. Okay, maybe not necessarily cool, but we swear.

Once Tyler could sit still, Maya, Tyler and I gave Mitch and Jerome their presents, even though we weren't supposed to bring anything. "The three of us contributed money to pay for the gifts," I explained. They weren't prepared; they didn't have anything for us, but we didn't really care. Friends are generous… Right?

Jerome opened his first. The three of us knew he loved Star Wars, so we got him a Chewbacca hat. "Oh mah gawd. I can be a Bacca now!" Jerome said.

"Are you going to be the very best that no one ever was?" Tyler joked.

Then Mitch opened his. "Holy… this looks expensive," he said with a guilty expression. We got him a golden dog tag with his name on it. Sure it was gold, but it was honestly the same price as Jerome's hat.

"Don't worry, it really wasn't," Maya said. I lightly punched her shoulder.

"You weren't supposed to tell him that! It was supposed to be a nice present…" I joked.

That day was happy. We had fun, played games, and Maya didn't start dying.

* * *

"J-Jimmy, explain to dad what happened," Maya said. She was extremely sick at that point. Pale, blood loss… And worse. It was only a few weeks after Christmas.

"You knew why the spell didn't work, didn't you Jimmy? Why didn't you ever tell me? Just explain it now…" dad said.

"During the car ride to Seattle, I… accidentally cast a spell on her. I didn't think it did anything, but look at what it's done," I explained.

"You should've told me right away! Maybe then I could've stopped it before it got this far! Now your sister is dying! My… m-my daughter…" dad started. He walked over to Maya, who was lying on her bed. "You know, you remind me of your mother. You look like her, you even have similar personality traits. You and Jimmy have honestly kept me sane. It'll be so different if you were to be gone…" he finished.

"Thanks for sugar-coating it, Dad," she sarcastically replied. "I think today's the day. Before I lose all my energy-" Maya started.

I broke into tears. "No! Don't say that! You'll live!" I interrupted.

"Seto, Jimmy, whatever, there's a note I wrote amongst the others on my wall –the purple one. Read it and do what it says, please. Dad, I hope you'll do fine; try not to lose like when mom died seven years ago. Both of you… I love you."

Those were the last things she said. She was gone. I felt worse than when Jack and Robby died. She was my sister, my first friend… But would she go to an afterlife? What's after death? I won't be able to find out. I won't ever figure out where my sister went.

Tears still flowing down my face, I ran into Maya's room. Right above the head boar of her bed were post it notes –the equivalent to a diary to her, in a way. All the notes were green, red, blue, and pink. But there was only that stood out, front and center. I gently took it off the wall and read it.

_'__Dear Seto,_

_Good, you found it. I'd be kind of mad at you if you didn't see the only purple note. Anyway, I have a few things to say._

_1) I'm sorry that I'm dead. Weird to say that, but I mean it. I can only imagine how you feel right now._

_2) Please try not to sulk over my death for the rest of your life. It's not worth it._

_3) There's a box under my bed with some stuff in it. I've put tags on some of them –could you give the ones that are named to the person? The rest are for you to decide._

_Love, Jinx_

* * *

I slept over at Mitch/Tyler's house the night after Maya's funeral.

"You okay, Seto?" Jerome asked. I shrugged.

"Why aren't you using my real name?" I asked. Not in an angry way, but more confused.

"I like Seto better than Jimmy," he answered.

"I'm moving at the end of the month," I said suddenly.

"You do this a lot, don't you? Move around?" Mitch asked.

I nodded. "Yeah. But it's only getting worse. About two years ago, before we moved here, Maya and I accidentally killed our friends –I think we've mentioned it. This year… I killed my sister…" I said.

"You moved a lot and you're going to move again? It's only been a year and a half, though! Where are you moving to?" Tyler asked.

"I think… Michigan. I really love it here and I don't really want to leave the burial place of my sister, but…" I answered. I felt really depressed after I said that. It seemed like a pattern. Every year or so, I move to a new state. A new state means that someone I'm close to gets killed. By me.

"Wait. There's something else you're not telling us –I can tell," Jerome suddenly said.

"Uh… I don't have your phone number on my new iPhone," I quickly made up. I didn't want to tell them about Maya's plan yet.

"Okay… call us. Maybe we'll get to meet your old friends someday."

Maybe.

* * *

"Let's go, Jimmy," dad said. I sighed.

"It'll never be the same without her," I sighed.

"I know… but you've got to move on, right? That doesn't mean we'll forget about her," dad said.

"Onto Michigan," he finally concluded. He glanced at my expression. "Come on, it can't be that bad, can it? The past 4 and a half years have been fine," he said.

I raised an eyebrow. "The past 4 and a half years I have killed 2 people. I'm only 12 years old! You don't know what could happen this year! I could… like… like, push someone into a moving car or something!" I shouted.

"Seriously? The timing on that would have to be pretty exact. You don't have those skills," my dad joked. We both laughed.

I guess humor will always make things batter. No wonder why Maya was always so happy and why she made me happy.


End file.
